A great way to get started in soap-making is to choose a good soap-making kit. These kits use the melt and pour method which makes the process easy, fun, and above all safe. That’s because the saponification process has already been done for you. So there’s no need to use the harsh chemicals that are required in the lye process when making soap from scratch.
It’s super easy to make beautiful artisan soap, (I’ve shared my favorite homemade honey oatmeal soap recipe here if you’d like to take a look). Anyone can do it, and it’s a fun activity for kids too.
There are tons of soap-making kits on the market to choose from, so we’ve done the hard work for you and narrowed our research down to the top 5 recommendations for the best soap-making kit on the market today and for each choice, we have provided a full review.
What to Look for When Choosing a Soap Making Kit
One thing to note about soap-making kits is that they don’t all contain the same basic items. In other words, some kits are more complete than others. The DilaBee kit, for example, includes a bowl and pitcher for melting the soap base whereas the Chelseas kit doesn’t. I have mentioned any additional items you might need at the end of each review.
Melt and Pour Soap Bases
The most important factor to consider is the quality of the soap base – as well as the quality of any fragrances included.
High-grade kits are made with vegetarian or vegan-based SLS, SLES, and paraben-free oils. The fat content of the base has two purposes:
- Saturated fats increase a soap’s lathe.
- Unsaturated fats moisturize and nourish the skin.
As you probably already know, each type of fat has its own unique properties and therefore provides its own benefits. Your individual skin type will be a factor of which type of base is most suitable for your skin. But if you want more information about which base to go for, you can click here to read more on Healthline (which is a trusted source). Here are a few common ingredients found in melt and pour soap bases:
- Shea Butter
- Aloe
- Olive Oil
- Charcoal
- Coconut Milk
- Avocado Butter
- Hemp Seed Oil
- Glycerin
The Chelseas kit base also contains premium grade goat milk which makes an ideal melt and pour soap base, being rich in saturated and unsaturated fats.
Goat milk in particular is a good source of vitamin A which has proven anti-aging properties as well as being rich in selenium (which promotes a healthy skin membrane).
Molds
Some kits it has to be said, contain cheap plastic molds. They are not my favorite as they can make releasing the soap from the mold more difficult. Silicone molds in comparison are much more resilient and because they are more flexible it makes it easier to remove the soap. Fortunately, they are easy to find separately and you may want to experiment or diversify your soap shapes anyway. So you can always buy additional molds for future soap-making ventures.
Price
Soap-making kits are inexpensive and are pretty good value for money average prices are between $30 – $50. They make great gifts for like-minded crafty friends or as a treat for yourself if you fancy trying something new.
| Editor’s Award | Brand |
Our Top Pick for the Best Soap Making Kit | Melt & Pour Soap Making Kits by Chelseas |
Best Embed Soap Making Kit | Custom Melt and Pour Glycerin Soap Gift Kit by Glory Creek |
Best for Making Colored Soaps | DIY Melt & Pour Shea Butter Soap Making Kit by CraftZee |
Another Worthy Mention | Complete DIY Soap Making Kit by Nicole |
Best Soap Sampler Kit for Business Start-Up | Saponify Melt and Pour Soap Base Sampler Kit |
| Best Color Sampler Kit | Pifito |
Our Top Pick for the Best Soap Making Kit: Melt & Pour Soap Making Kits by Chelseas
These are perfect little kits to get you started. They have everything you need to make long-lasting, hard French Milled soap without having to deal with the chemical and extra milling process required for French-milled soap – it’s already done for you.
The kits are ideal for making guest soaps, handmade gift soaps, or, considering the whole kit is so easily affordable, the kit itself would make a lovely gift for someone.
To give you an example of what you get, the shea butter kit is made with vegan-based SLS, SLES, and paraben-free oils including olive oil, coconut, and palm oil, and the shea butter shredded soap base also contains coconut milk, which gives the soap an extra creamy soap with a good lather.
Included with the shea butter kit are jasmine fragrance oil, lemon essential oil, oatmeal botanicals, a silicon bar mold, and a pipette for measuring your fragrance oils.
The shea butter kit comes with 1lb of soap base – which makes about four, 4oz. bars of soap.
But Chelseas also do other kits too and some come with 2lbs of soap base which makes 8 to 12 bars.
Here are more of our favorites:
The Hibiscus and Lavender Goat Milk kit comes with 2lbs of premium quality, goat’s milk glycerin, and lavender essential oil. It’s even better value than the shea butter kit – providing you with 2lbs of soap base.
- Black Vanilla Raspberry (2lbs)
- Tropical Flowers
- Geranium and Rose Shea Butter (2lbs)
- Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey (2lbs)
- Chamomile and Lavender Goat Milk (2lbs)
What We Like:
- High-Quality French Milled Soap Base | Milled for a hard, long-lasting soap.
- Comprehensive and Clear Instructions | The kit has very clear instructions Chelseas is a small US company and they have a nice website with helpful tips and recipes.
Buying Factors to Consider:
These are very affordable kits and would also make a great gift for someone. We should just mention that molds may come with other shapes than shown – depending on availability.
Additional Items You May Needed:
You will just need a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol. This is to disperse any bubbles on the surface of your trace (soap mixture). You will also need a large microwavable measuring cup and a wooden spoon.
Best Embed Soap Making Kit: Custom Melt and Pour Glycerin Soap Gift Kit by Glory Creek
It’s so easy to get into making embeds with this super-cute fun kit.
The Glory Creek is a step up from children’s soap kits but your kids will definitely want to join in.
The kit comes with 4 stars, 4 hearts, and 4 seashells. You also get squigglies and ribbons, so you can really get creative with your designs.
You get a generous 2 lbs of white and clear soap base. The kit also comes with 2 craft sticks for stirring, a silicone mini loaf pan, 8 gift bags, with jute ties, and gift cards.
What We Like:
- Fun Kit with Lots of Embeds | This Glory Creek kit is a great way to practice your soap-making techniques which will, in turn, inspire you to get creative and experiment with the craft.
- 2 lbs of White and Clear Quality Glycerin Soap Base | The embeds are made with natural pigment colors.
- Gift Bags and Tags Included | Great for making handmade soap gifts.
Additional Items You May Needed:
You will just need a small spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol to disperse any bubbles on the surface of your trace, a large microwavable measuring cup, and a wooden spoon.
Best for Making Colored Soaps: DIY Melt & Pour Shea Butter Soap Making Kit by CraftZee
This generous 2lbs shea butter-based soap-making kit comes complete with four liquid dyes and four fragrances making it ideal for making pretty scented gift soaps.
In the kit are two molds to make either, 4 standard shapes (square, oval round, and rectangle), or 5 flower designs. The kit also contains a pouring pitcher, 2 stirring sticks, and a mixing bowl.
It even has four coordinating gift boxes to pack your colored soaps.
The kit will make around 12 bars of soap and comes with full instructions.
Additional Items You May Needed:
The only thing you will need to add with this comprehensive kit is a small spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol to disperse any bubbles on the surface of your trace.
Another Worthy Mention: Complete DIY Soap Making Kit by Nicole
First let me just say this kit doesn’t come with any English instructions, – not really a problem as there are so many excellent youtube tutorials on how to make soap, and this kit does have everything you need to make soap with the melt and pour method so it’s an excellent choice.
UPDATE: The company has now included full photograph instructions, right there on their Amazon page.
This kit even goes one step further. If you want to make soap from scratch you can use the lye method with this kit too (it includes safety glasses, gloves, a ph test kit and thermometer and glass rod for stirring, etc).
What we love about this kit is that it comes with a food-grade loaf soap mold, a wave knife, a soap knife (for a straight edge), and a wooden beveler for chamfering your edges, so you can make artisan soap slices.
Also included are 4 sizes of measuring cups, two pipettes, a silicone scraper, and a stainless steel whisk for blending your essential oils, botanicals, and minerals.
If you intend to make soap using the lye process you will need to invest in a stick blender, and of course, you will need lye, distilled water, and a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol (to remove bubbles from the surface of your trace).
The kit also contains a 500g soap base to get you started with the melt and pour method.
The soap base provided isn’t the best quality in our opinion. So If you go for this kit we recommend buying a good quality soap base.
Best Soap Sampler Kit for Business Start-Up: Saponify Melt and Pour Soap Base Sampler Kit
If you’d like to make soaps to sell, this sampler kit is the ideal way to get started.
I know from the photo you might think the kit only gives you a small sample of each soap base but this is a big kit.
The kit consists of 8 different, 1lb soap bases allowing you to sample and try out different the different varieties including shea butter, avocado butter, coconut milk, olive oil, charcoal, and aloe.
The kit includes a leaf-shaped mold that will give you up to 12 guest-sized bars from each 1 lb block of soap base – that’s a total of 96 bars.
We love the scope this kit gives you to experiment and develop your soap-making skills. You can keep things simple or create multi-layered combinations. You can add your own botanicals, like flowers and herbs, or add skin-safe fragrances, and colors up to 3%.
What We Like:
- Hard Soap Bases | The high-quality soap bases are formulated by a professional soap maker and member of the soap guild, giving you a long-lasting soap with an excellent lather.
Additional Items You May Needed:
You will need a small spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol for a bubble-free surface on your trace. You’ll also need a microwave-safe measuring cup, a wooden spoon – and of course any botanicals or scents you want to add.
Best Color Sampler Kit: Pifito DIY Hand Soap Making Supplies Kit
This is a great little starter kit if you want to experiment with color.
You get 8 mica color powders to try in blue, yellow, red, black, pink, violet, brown, and green.
The kit comes with 2 lbs of melt and pour soap bases (one shea butter and one goat’s milk). This kit doesn’t come with a mold but they are easy to get and there are tons to choose from.
The kit will give you about 8 bars of soap.
What We Like:
- High-Quality Soap Bases | The high-quality soap bases are made in the US and don’t contain any synthetics, chemicals, detergents, or lathering agents.
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